The Kids Ain't All Right
by Alex Foster
Summary: Two Pinehearst agents and a decision to stay or go. AU fic. Claire/Elle


Title: The Kids Ain't All Right

Author: Alex Foster

Word Count: 1,506

Pairing: Claire/Elle

Rating: PG

Cross posted from my Livejournal. This was one of the first things I wrote when I started considering doing a 'Pinehearst Pair" verse. It was also written for a non-explicit challenge in the Kink Bingo using four squares. I used the prompts: Roleplay/Au (Authority Figures), Electricity, Worship, Breathplay. There is nothing explicit in this fic, but if any of those things are squicks for you please don't read. Thank you.

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_Make yourself necessary to somebody_  
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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"Please?" Elle Bishop stopped short of actually pleading. She was many things—petulant, rash, brash, rude—but never a beggar.

Claire Bennet glanced once over her shoulder and kept walking backward. "I said no. I want to get this job over with and go home."

Elle nearly dropped her share of the load to point down the street at the cityscape lighting the sky. Even at four in the morning Las Vegas glowed and flashed with a schizophrenic array of blinking neon. Clouds hung low overhead and caught the light like a dim halo of pink and yellow. The entire city was a domicile of recklessness and sin, a place where normally placid folk gave into their dirtiest desires without fear of repercussion.

It sounded like Shangri-La to Elle.

"Hold up for a second." Claire set her part of the bundle on the car's bumper and began fishing in the pockets of her dark blazer for the keys.

Elle eyed their car distastefully. A nondescript sedan with government plates, it was about to be her home for the next few days during the long drive back to New Jersey. And she never even got to see that dinosaur museum (the one with life sized replicas) or a topless review (the kind with the big feathered headdresses).

"This trip sucks," she said. "Like Arthur's going to know if we take a night and have a little fun."

Claire opened the trunk and shoved their duffel bags deeper inside to make room for their cargo. The Pinehearst agent almost smiled. "Like when we took a night to have fun in Atlanta? Our target woke up, got out of the car, and killed three people. Not to mention what happened to that building."

Elle rolled her eyes. Always had to bring up Atlanta. "Well, this target isn't going anywhere." She knocked her end against the fender for emphases. It hit with a dull thud.

Claire hefted her share of the weight again and took a step back. "We'll spend the night in New York after we check in at the office," she said. "You love the city."

Falling into unspoken rhythm, they swung the bundle wide once, twice, and then dumped the body into the trunk. Edward Munnic, a speck of a man with the ability of accelerated probability, hadn't followed the Protection of Humanity Act or listened to the previous warnings from Pinehearst. Now he was dead weight in a sack in their car.

"Yeah," Elle countered, "but _this _city is closer." And there are so many new things to explore and do there, she left unsaid.

Claire slammed the trunk down. "Get in the car, Elle."

"No." Elle drew herself up tall with defiance. "You go on ahead—I'll catch up later."

The former cheerleader considered her for a long moment, tipping her head like she was examining a special with a new ability. "I'm senior agent, Elle, and I'm telling you to get in the car."

Elle didn't bristle at that. Arthur had assigned Claire as the lead field operative not long after her 'conversion' to their way of thinking. The newly crowned villain had proven a good fit with Pinehearst—excelling almost as well as Noah had in the lifestyle.

If Arthur knew why Elle followed Claire's orders without question, he never said. Elle wasn't even entirely sure herself. Claire was a good leader (other agents whispered that she'd have her own squad in less than five years) but there was something else deep down inside. Noah had it too, passed it unknowingly down to his daughter, but he never gave it free rein like her.

Elle didn't say anything and just watched her partner for a long beat. Her mouth was set in a firm thin line and she stared unwaveringly back. Claire Bennet the Pinehearst agent that feared nothing, no one, took a step closer. And another until she was in Elle's face.

The older woman suddenly flashed back to Noah's funeral (the first; neither attended his second) and when she first glimpsed that darkness in Claire's eyes. Then, long before her mind ever saw them as sister agents on the same side, a darkness she wasn't even conscious of hummed inside and felt a little less alone around the blonde cheerleader.

Elle backpedaled until she was pressed against the car. Her breath caught in her throat and she fought the urge to smile. There were good memories from Atlanta, too.

One hand, eternally sun bronzed, pressed against the windowpane next to her head. The other traced the lapels of her jacket, pausing only slightly on the Pinehearst pin. "Elle," she said, slow and measured. "I'm your superior and you'll do as I say."

The early morning air was cool but Elle could feel heat pouring out of Claire. It worked its way through the fabric of her clothes and made her skin slick with sweat. A leg hooked around her knee, spread her legs slightly, and Claire's hipbone pressed down, holding her in place against the car.

Claire could feel her heart racing, Elle knew.

Claire's hand worked higher until it cupped her neck, fingers resting comfortably against the jugular and thumb brushing her windpipe. "Do you feel like playing, Elle? Why don't you show me how you like to play?"

She already knew very well, but Elle reached for the hand pressed against the window. She pushed Claire's sleeve up and let trickle a small current. Nothing close to what her ability could dish out, but enough that even Claire would be aware of it and the damage it could do.

The agent smiled, closed her eyes, and tightened her grip.

Elle leaned back instinctively as Claire's thumb dug deeper into her throat. Her breathing, already quick, stopped all together. Blood rushed loudly in her ears and she felt each pulse of her heart against her ribcage. The pressure began to build, tightening like a band around her lungs.

She wasn't like her partner and would have deep purple bruises to show from this game. She didn't care.

Spots danced in the corners of her vision and her entire body shook against Claire's in a muted attempt to fight back. The electricity leaving her fingertips increased almost of its own will and tore through Claire's skin. Feedback crackled through Elle where they made physical contact. A grunt slipped past quivering lips as a weak hiccup as the pain and euphoria of her ability twisted together.

Claire opened her eyes and withdrew her thumb slightly, just enough to let Elle swallow a mouthful of air. Her head spun as oxygen flooded her system. Recalling her ability, she watched fascinated as the burns on Claire's arm faded and the gashes closed.

She had seen thousands of powers in her years with the Company and Pinehearst, but Claire was unique among them all. Not even Adam Monroe had used his ability the way she did…never let Elle do the things to him Claire welcomed.

The desire to test that power further hit her like a physical force. She wanted to burn off Claire's designer suit and watch as all the damage she could pour into her mended away without so much as a scar. Before people started fearing Claire Bennet, they called her miraculous and Elle still agreed. She was a reverse Humpty Dumpty—she would never break and always stay whole.

Elle didn't believe in God or much of anything beyond herself and her power, but what was inside Claire (both the darkness and the light) was something she could not deny feeling.

A subtle increase of pressure at the base of her throat kept her from moving forward and brought her out of her reverie.

"Do you still want to explore on your own?" the agent in charge asked. She stepped back and released her; Elle was suddenly aware of the cold night air again.

Las Vegas still blinked and glittered in the distance, waiting for her. But, she thought, maybe plastic dinosaurs and feathered headdresses were overrated.

"No," she said. "I want to come with."

Elle Bishop did many things in life, but she never begged. She never had to. Her partner always knew what she needed.

**End**


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